links and photos for a sunday afternoon

Gene Sharp's 198 methods of non-violent action
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html
In the printed version, there are historical examples of each, some of them are amazing. I hope I'm remembering this right: one of them was about a standoff between Soviet and Chinese army units. Each morning they would line up on opposite sides of a river and it seemed only a matter of time before one would start to shoot. The Chinese started a daily ritual where they would drop their pants and moon the soviet army, taunting them. Instead of shooting them in the butt, one morning the Soviet troops all pulled out portraits of Mao when the Chinese started to moon them. Not wanting to ever again be accused of mooning Mao, they never did it again. Now that's non-violent action!

---
another one of those things that makes me think "yes, this is what the internet was created for"
New York City launches mobile phone app for free condoms
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/14/us-condom-app-idUSTRE71D6FU201...

The New York City Health Department on Monday unveiled a smartphone application that will help users locate the nearest place in the area giving out free condoms.

"We want New York City to be the safest city in the world to have sex," said Dr. Monica Sweeney, the city's assistant health commissioner

---
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/should-employers-b...

The American Civil Liberties Union has taken up the cause of a Maryland man who was forced to cough up his Facebook password during a job interview with the Department of Corrections in that state.

According to an ACLU letter sent to the Maryland Department of Corrections, the organization requires that new applicants and those applying for recertifications give the government "their social media account usernames and personal passwords for use in employee background checks."

---

Today's photos: